La Costa Canyon rallies, routs Del Norte in Week 3 football matchup

CARLSBAD – The game plan was obvious.

Take the air out of the ball, run the clock and jam it down La Costa Canyon High School’s throats.

And for one series, it worked: Del Norte held the ball for 17 plays in the first quarter and led by a touchdown.

Then the plan blew up. Fifth-ranked LCC took advantage of a host of Del Norte mistakes, scored six straight times and raced to a 56-13 nonleague victory.

“Give them credit,” said LCC coach Sean Sovacool. “They came out in an unbalanced formation, something we hadn’t seen. They used multiple tempos.  But we adjusted and got the job done. Really, we have great players and great coaches That’s a really good combination.”

Del Norte (1-2) opened the game with a 13-play drive that consumed nearly eight minutes. But it fizzled when the Nighthawks fumbed the ball away at LCC 24.

The Mavericks (3-0), however, fumbled the ball right back and Del Norte scored on a 14-yard run by Madox Romans.

After that, it was all La Costa Canyon. The Mavericks used a 10-play, 80-yard drive to score on a 14-yard pass from Quinn Roth to Coby Herman. A 2-point PAT pass to Jackson Maggiore made it 8-7.

Del Norte was marching when Logan Pagni recovered a Nighthawks fumble.

Two plays late, Herman took a toss right and sped 42 yards for a score.

Another Roth-to-Maggiore PAT made it 16-7.

After a Del Norte punt, Herman capped a 44-yard drive with a 3-yard TD.

“They had the ball almost all of the first quarter, so the offensive guys had to keep warm,” Herman said. “It was kind of a rocky start, but we recovered and do what we do … execute at a high level.

“We knew if we played our game, we would score some points and win.”

After Herman’s TD run, Del Norte failed to cover the ball on the kickoff and Jonah Blalock covered the  ball for LCC.

On the second play, Roth hit Maggiore with a 21-yard scoring pass, giving the Mavericks two TDs in 10 seconds.

LCC opened the second half with a 39-yard TD pass from Roth to Maggiore, giving the Mavericks touchdowns on five straight drives.

The Mavericks made it six scoring drives in a row with Roth hitting Blake Larson with a 15-yard scoring strike.

Jake Hopper put an exclamation point on the win with a 33-yard interception return for a TD.

Herman finished the game with nine carries for 116 yards and two rushing touchdowns. He also caught two passes for 25 yards and a score.

Roth was 14 of 17 passing for 163 yards and three TD as the Mavericks threw for 201 yards.

Maggiore caught six passes for 96 yards and two TDs.

Lennox Marcucci, who injured a knee at a summer college camp, saw his first action of the season, catching a pass for 14 yards.

Romans finished with 18 carries for 89 yards, but only had three carries in the second half as Del Norte rushed for 84 yards.

Kaden Williams completed 15 of 21 passes for Del Norte for 95 yards.

La Costa Canyon 56, Del Norte 13

Del Norte   7    0   0   6 — 13

La Costa Canyon 0  32  21  3 — 56

DN — Romans 14 run (Orosco kick)

LCC — Herman 14 pass from Roth (Maggiore pass from Roth)

LCC — Herman 42 run (Maggiore pass from Roth)

LCC — Herman 42 run (Maggiore pass from Roth)

LCC — Maggiore 21 pass from Roth (Herman run)

LCC — Maggiore 39 pass from Roth (Herman run)

LCC — Larson 15 pass from Roth  (run failed)

LCC — Hopper 33 interception return (Stringfellow kick)

DN — Battle 1 pass from Williams (run failed)

LCC — Stringfellow 25 FG